This invention relates generally to aquariums and in particular to a crab habitat which is to be submerged in an aquarium but which has a dry air chamber accessible by crabs from the aquarium and through which air flows.
Aquariums found in the modern home often contain, in addition to the usual tropical fish, crustaceans including various types of small and perhaps unusual crabs. In general, crabs are amphibious, requiring water and also desiring dry areas where they may rest in a rocky environment simulating a protected rocky beach area. For housing two or three small pet crabs, a small aquarium containing the usual tropical fish would normally require a dry ledge or rock outcropping above water level upon which the crabs may climb. To prevent the crabs from climbing over the edge of the aquarium, the ledge must either be an "island" spaced from a side of the aquarium or the aquarium wall must be sufficiently high, or the water level low. Such accessories require an unusually large aquarium, normally larger than desired in a private residence.
In the invention to be described, crabs in an aquarium climb up a broad ladder and onto a rock or gravel covered tray enclosed in an inverted submerged air chamber the top of which may also be rock or gravel covered. Outside air is pumped into the inverted chamber and leaks from the bottom edges to supply oxygen to the aquarium. The chamber may be made of any desired material that will remain air tight. Clear plastic chamber walls permit the studying of crabs in the chamber, or the walls of the chamber may be painted to blend with the rock roof to appear as an undersea rock formation surrounded by tropical fish.